Preparing for a Tech Talk, Part 3: Content — overreacted

15 hours ago

The author combines top-down outlining with bottom-up building of concrete sections when preparing tech talks.
The outline is a living draft that evolves, helping to structure the talk and identify inconsistencies.
The talk structure often follows a 'Hero's Journey' pattern: establishing conflict, walking through the 'aha' moment, recapping solutions, and ending emotionally.
The bottom-up pass focuses on building a proof of concept for the 'high-energy' section, such as a crucial demo or explanation.
Many iterations and throwaway work (like memes) are involved in refining the high-energy part.
Dry runs are essential for timing, cutting content, and polishing flow, with practice repeated multiple times.
The author avoids full speaker notes and instead rehearses until the delivery feels natural.

Hasty Briefsbeta